The fission-track analysis: An alternative technique for provenance studies of prehistoric obsidian artefacts

Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet (1) , Giulio Bigazzi (2) , Olivier Dorighel (1) , Massimo Oddone (3) , Gérard Poupeau (1) , Zehra Yeğingil (4)

1 LGCA - Laboratoire de Géodynamique des Chaines Alpines
2 IGG-CNR - CNR Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse [Pisa]
3 UNIPV - Università degli Studi di Pavia = University of Pavia
4 Cukurova University

Comparison of fission-track parameters - age and track densities - is an alternative tool for correlating obsidian artefacts with their potential natural sources. This method was applied by different fission-track groups in various regions and results were compared with those obtained using the more popular provenance identification techniques based on chemical composition studies. Hundreds of analyses prove that fission-track dating is a complementary technique which turns out to be very useful, specially when the chemical composition does not fully discriminate different sources. Archaeologically significant results were obtained applying the fission-track analysis in various regions of earth.

Domaines: Chimie analytique; Archéologie et Préhistoire; Volcanologie

Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet, Giulio Bigazzi, Olivier Dorighel, Massimo Oddone, Gérard Poupeau, et al.. The fission-track analysis: An alternative technique for provenance studies of prehistoric obsidian artefacts. Radiation Measurements, 1999, 31 (1-6), pp.639-644. ⟨10.1016/S1350-4487(99)00157-2⟩. ⟨hal-01832717⟩